Team coding Install, configure, Check-In/Out steps in Toad 12.8.0.49

Toad for Oracle
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Hi, I want to use Team Coding option in Toad version 12.8.0.49 for source version control using GIT. I pretty new to use this option in database. i already installed GIT and i find Team coding manager option in my toad. I am not DBA resource, i belongs to application team with limited access. Can you pls provide me step by step process to install (if any), configure, check-in/out source,..to start working on this. Thanks

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Hi girishere143,

Toad for Oracle 12.8 is an older version of Toad and was the last version to operate on the older Team Coding architecture. If possible, I would recommend upgrading to the current version of Toad for Oracle (or at least version 12.9 or higher) as that version of Team Coding was rewritten to be a whole lot easier and more stable to work with.

That being said, using Git in a Team Coding environment is not a simple task since distributed version control systems work very differently than what databases are used to. Databases operate more in a centralized (client/server) environment by nature. As such, many of the distributed commands needed (cloning, branching, pushing, pulling, and merging) need to be done manually as databases can't easily or safely restore code when switching between branches without running the risk of breaking other people's code.

Also, there's a distinction to be made about using Team Coding vs using File-based Source Control. Team Coding is primarily to be used in a team environment where multiple people are making updates to a database and you want to make sure people are working together, without stepping on each other's toes, while also handling change management and optionally version control management in an external version control provider. For change management, Team Coding will allow you to check out objects and lock them from modifications by others while you're working with them. If you tie it to a back-end version control system, it will also work with the VCS to provide version management for the DDL of those objects. Since it operates in a team environment, you'd need to have access to install the Team Coding objects to a centralized schema. As such, you'd probably need some level of access in order to have it used in your environment. To that end, I would probably ask your DBA to install the feature, or grant you permissions to install it, if you want to use it.

File-based source control allows you to simply integrate with a version control provider, but does not provide change control management in your database. As such, it doesn't require installing anything special on the server. Since it only works with files, you'd need to manually save the DDL for any objects you want to version to a folder on your local drive, then check out that file, make changes, compile it into the database, and then check it back in. However, other developers could also be changing the DDL of those objects at the same time you are. As a result, you may overwrite their changes if you don't know about them ahead of time. File-based Source Control doesn't provide change control management within the database itself to prevent unexpected alterations to objects by multiple different people at the same time.

For information about using Toad for Oracle 12.8 for file-based source control, you can look here:

For information about using Team Coding in Toad for Oracle 12.8, I would look at Anju's video from Dell's YouTube site here:

For information about setting up and using Team Coding in Toad 12.9 and higher, you can reference these pages:

For Toad 12.12 and earlier, there's also ways to set up external tools in Toad to perform clone, push, and pull operations. You can find out more about how to do that here:

Since you don't have administrative access in your environment, and unless other developers in your environment are also using Toad to make changes to your database, using file-based source control may be your best bet. If you are operating as a team in making database changes for various projects, it may be worthwhile to upgrade your version of Toad to a later version of Toad that supports a much easier Team Coding setup and integration.

I hope this information helps in providing some input to using Git in Toad for your environment. If you have any other questions, please feel free to let us know.

Thanks,

-John

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Thanks John, much appreciate your time and efforts for details, it greatly helps me to learn and understand.
I can upgrade Toad version to 13 or above and start using Team Coding. From your details I understood below steps need to follow (considering my Toad version is 13 or above), pls correct me if im wrong anywhere.

  1. Since we from App development team restricted to limited access, you suggest the best one to use is File-based source control i.e. GIT. Can we proceed with GIT or anything else?
  2. DBA should install Team Coding (here my DBA is not familiar with installation process, if possible can you pls share steps to install)
  3. Once DBA did the installation, we App team have to do some config and then good to start using Team coding using GIT, as i already installed GIT client in my machine.
  4. Is there anything else required from DBA side? From here we will have all the required access to work on with source control, correct?
  5. Is there any drawbacks on using this option, in aspect to database, space, it can be anything..

I prefer to have this discussed more in call to understand more in detail, if its possible or else no issues.

Thanks
Girish